I swear I’m done with Batman talk after this, but I know there’s an insider screening of “The Dark Knight” happening tonight on the Warner lot. If any sort of “review” pops up somewhere, it’s going to be from someone who gets checks signed by studio brass. That said, I’m anticipating a report from a trustworthy acquaintance and my fingers are SO crossed.
Tag: comics-to-film
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Rachel Dawes believes in Harvey Dent
You’ll have to forgive me, folks. I’m on one of those obssessive “Dark Knight” kicks today. Back to normal soon, I assure you.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D15iHxCvjBs
By the way, this site has an exhaustive analysis of the news bits, viral marketing and studio promotion of the film that reads like a full blown discourse revealing major secrets throughout…and with nothing in the way of “inside” information. I like the way Michael Moran put it in his link here at The Times: The film ruined for your pleasure.
There are also some sweet new banner images that hit a little over a week ago, but I’m only seeing for the first time today for some reason.
Also, “Batman Begins” and “Dark Knight” production designer Nathan Crowley is apparently behind the set designs of a superhero costume exhibit that has been at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York. Very cool. Meanwhile, the milk people are up to it once again with “Dark Knight” marketing.
And I want this motorcycle. Bad.
Alright…I think I got it out of my system. I think.
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‘Hulk’ pan
From someone in this building, who saw a completely different film than I did:
The greatest sin for a comic-book movie adaptation such as The Incredible Hulk is for it to be average. But this is more of a disheartened plod down the path of least resistance than the building-pummelling riot of ideas that it needed to be.
Ide sings the praises of Ang Lee’s film at the top, so you get the idea immediately that she wasn’t going to be on board for this one.
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‘Dark Knight’ soundtrack listing
1. Why So Serious? 09:14
2. I’m Not A Hero 06:34
3. Harvey Two-Face 06:16
4. Aggressive Expansion 04:35
5. Always A Catch 01:39
6. Blood On My Hands 02:16
7. A Little Push 02:42
8. Like A Dog Chasing Cars 05:02
9. I Am The Batman 01:59
10. And I Thought My Jokes Were Bad 02:28
11. Agent Of Chaos 06:55
12. Introduce A Little Anarchy 03:42
13. Watch The World Burn 03:47
14. A Dark Knight 16:15By the way, Warners is releasing this thing on vinyl (!). It’ll actually be landing in four configurations, one of them being a collector’s edition with exclusive artwork post-release.
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‘Hulk’ reviews coming in…
UPDATE (10:05 a.m.): Jeff Wells is going out of his way to find the so-so reactions to the film. I anticipated them sooner or later. He’s also going out of his way to toss me under a bus, but he likes the theatrics so he can have at it.Wells is spotlighting some shifty sources, though. Mostly net mavens, with an off-the-mark-as-alwys HFPA member thrown in to boot.
EARLIER: Reviews and reactions to the second Marvel Studios project of the year, “The Incredible Hulk,” are beginning to pour in. The film premiered in Los Angeles Sunday and had screenings in New York and London last night. The bulk of L.A. critics will be getting looks tonight and tomorrow.
Assessments are generally positive in the early stages. You can read my review here. But this is where the crowd is leaning (with more sure to pile on later this evening):
Mark Monahan (Daily Telegraph):
Besides keeping things moving with a mission, Leterrier reveals a strong eye for an exciting set-piece, as at home with a foot-chase through the Brazilian slums as in the brutal climactic battle between the two uber-beings. (In the latter, the potent sense of at-the-ringside immediacy largely – if not entirely – compensates for the CGI shortcomings).
(More after the jump)
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REVIEW: “The Incredible Hulk” (***1/2)
When Ang Lee set out to direct the first feature film adaptation of Marvel’s Incredible Hulk property five years ago, some things were…different.Lee was coming off of the major awards success of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which led audiences – many of them skeptics – to ponder what he might be able to accomplish with the psychology of another action-oriented effort.
However, Marvel had its hands tied. Unlike Detective Comics properties, which fall under Time Warner ownership and therefore receive continual distribution out of Warner Bros. Pictures, Marvel was still at the whims of studio discretion, its properties scattered to the winds despite having the consistency of an Ari Arad behind the scenes.
Nothing could be said less of Lee as a filmmaker when the finished, disastrous product was unveiled. He took a gamble and hit craps…hard. And he bought back in two years later, bouncing back with a Best Director Oscar to show for it. But Marvel was left with a serious consideration that had likely lingered for many years: how to get a developmental handle on a catalogue of material that was bursting at the seams with cinematic potential.
The difference now is Marvel Studios, which saw its first production “Iron Man” held on high by critics and audiences alike just one month ago. It was a home run for an unexplored property on the big screen, but could it be duplicated? And via a franchise that wasn’t nearly far enough removed from it’s immediate past to be considered stale by any means?
Apparently so. Because Louis Leterrier’s “The Incredible Hulk” is not only likely to be the biggest, most exhausting (in all the good ways) film-going experience you’ll have this year, but it also holds the second turtle dove of a young studio’s seizure of what promises to be one of the greatest cinematic roll outs the genre has, or perhaps will ever see.
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Zimmer taking the Joker ‘punk?’
Todd Martens, who always does a fine job of rounding up news and talking points regarding the year’s film music compositions (especially around the Oscar season), sat down recently with Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard. The composing duo of “Batman Begins” and the upcoming “The Dark Knight” are enjoying a nice publicity push, including a press day last week in Los Angeles solely for the pair.Martens was able to listen to about 10 minutes of the new score (jealousy isn’t a strong enough adjective at the moment), and he managed to get some details on the way the two composers are splitting duties. It seems Zimmer is on Joker duties, while Howard is fleshing out the aural rhytms of Harvey Dent.
Zimmer had some interesting things to say on his approach to the Caped Crusader’s latest foe:
Yet some early signs show “The Dark Knight” departing at least a little bit from the more subtle tones of “Batman Begins”…the theme Zimmer wrote for the Joker, played in the film by the late Heath Ledger, is a damning piece of music. It’s an intense eight-minute piece that comes off like an orchestral interpretation of a something created by Trent Reznor’s Nine Inch Nails. Zimmer says the work is only two notes, but the two notes are twisted and manipulated into mimicking the sounds of thunder, razors and all sorts of clatter heard in alleyways probably better left unexplored.
Though that description may not make it sound like music to the ears, it’s still immensely listenable. It plays out like something from a horror film, with many a shift in direction and a nod to “Psycho.” But all of it is tied together by a striking blow of strings that keep it from falling apart, and Zimmer said it bears a punk influence.
Check out the rest. And here’s a glimpse of what might be some of the new score, by the way.
Anticipation is killing me by the day on this.
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That leaked Two Face photo…
Jeff Wells is running it over at his site. So is AICN. Since I saw at least two take-down orders out there on the net, I refrained from running the pic. But Jeff says he ran it by publicists at Warner Bros. and no one got back to him, so taht was reason enough for him.
Anyway — while it’s there — what do you think? Personally, if it’s indeed real, I think it’s perfect. Especially knowing what it might look like on film with Wally Pfister playing with the shadows. And it’s downright terrifying.
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About The Joker, or Heath Ledger, remembered
In a post earlier today, Kris linked to the new trailer for “The Dark Knight” starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Michael Caine . . .I could continue. It’s an exceptional cast complete with some of the finest actors from different demographics, Maggie Gyllenhaal, especially, as a needed upgrade from Katie Holmes.This trailer gives us an added (and for me, a needed) glimpse into The Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger. This performance, characterized by Michael Caine as “the most murderous psychopath you’ve ever seen on screen,” is, arguably, the most anticipated of the year.
You expected me to write summer, didn’t you, what with all those new and different performances being released: Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones; Will Smith as an invincible man; Brendan Fraser as Rick O’Connell; Seth Rogen as a stoner; Adam Sandler as a cross between Little Nicky and Bobby Boucher . . .
I don’t mean to diminish these performances (or those I didn’t mention: Ed Norton as The Incredible Hulk and Emile Hirsch in “Speed Racer”), but they simply don’t inspire me the way Ledger’s performance does. Is that because he’s dead? In part, I’m sure. But friends of mine will attest that I suggested to anyone that would listen that Ledger’s performance would be memorable. Oscar-worthy was used several times, I recall.
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‘Dark Knight,’ YouTubed
You know…just to round out a few days of Bat-talk:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKSUCoN7Ioo
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Eckhart on Dent
My guy identifies with everybody in the movie…Really, all of it is more than an adventure tale, it’s somewhat of a mirror of our times. It deals with some fundamental questions of what’s going on in society. To me, this film is about how Batman feels about justice, how he takes care of the city, how he feels about the Joker when he meets him and sees what he is capable of doing. How he feels when Harvey Two-Face takes matters into his own hands. It’s not simple, and it gets ugly. I think people will be surprised.
From this weekend’s profile in the LA Times.
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Uh…is it a cleansing by fire for Dent rather than acid?
A second look at “Iron Man” with the masses (indeed, the MASSES) last night afforded a look at the new trailer for “The Dark Knight” on the big screen, rather than dealing with that clumsy cell phone video that’s out there.Two things hit me when I was watching this:
1) Wally Pfister is all but guaranteed a second nomination for his work on the series. The opening hero shot, dizzyingly high above and looking down a Chicago skyscraper, has to be the coolest shot in the genre.
2) I think the brothers Nolan may have taken some liberties with the Two-Face origin.
The information has always been scattered out there that, in David Goyer and Christopher Nolan’s vision of a trilogy, the Joker would be the one responsible for the mangling of Harvey Dent’s face and, therefore, the impetus for the creation of Two-Face. (Aaron Eckhart plays Dent in the film. He was profiled in the LA Times this weekend).
I don’t know if this has panned out, but if it has, I am still not 100% comfortable with it. In the comics, of course, Dent is scarred when a mob boss tosses a vial of acid his way, most interestingly laid out by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Tim Sale in “The Long Halloween.” In that story, the boss is Sal Maroni (portrayed by Eric Roberts in “The Dark Knight,” by the way).
No, I’m not beholden to comic-to-screen loyalty every step of the way. “Batman Begins” was, after all, a brilliant mish-mash of a couple of comic sources, and we already know that Nolan and company are taking the mash-up approach to “The Dark Knight,” using a little of Batman #1, a little of “The Long Halloween,” this and that, this and that. Fair enough. But I’ve never been fully comfortable with one of the rogues gallery providing the genesis for another.
Watching the new trailer again last night, I noticed a brief shot of what looked to be Harvey held down, the left side of his face pressed against a floor covered in gasoline. It was quick, but I think I know what I saw.
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What did you think of ‘Iron Man?’
Now that the first summer blockbuster has landed, tell us what you thought.
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Audiences to see a different ‘Iron Man’ than critics?
At Monday’s screening of “Iron Man,” I was sad to see that Samuel L. Jackson’s much-anticipated cameo as S.H.I.E.L.D. leader Nick Fury wasn’t in the cut. Though director Jon Favreau has suggested the scene might surface in the DVD release.Well New York Mag’s Vulture blog points us today to a Comic Book Resources story revealing that general audiences will get to see the Easter egg scene that was withheld from critics’ screenings on the grounds of Top Secrecy, so to speak:
One thing missing from the film was the much-touted end of movie scene with Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury. I understand from British Film classification sources that the scene is in the print that they’ve approved for general release, but not in premiere or preview screenings, so as not to spoil the um.. surprise… bugger. Anyway, he’s recruiting for a group called The Avengers.
And Moviehole confirms the notion. With the sentiments of two fellow journos. Fair enough. I was gonna pay to see it again anyway. Now I have even more incentive!
And come on, “The Avengers initiative?” A shared scene with Tony Stark in “The Incredible Hulk?” The road to an “Avengers” moving being paved with gold? My geek meter is on overload.
God bless Marvel Studios.
UPDATED: It looks like John over at The Movie Blog has the footage in question up, from a YouTube posting.
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SHORT TAKE: “Iron Man” (***1/2)
You know, I find myself agreeing with many of the criticisms leveled at “Iron Man” in some quarters this week, rather than adhering to the admittedly overreaching raves pouring out of others.Jon Favreau and Robert Downey Jr. are working from very thin material here, from a horribly green four-person screenwriting team. Set pieces seem injected without the benefit of a valid thought process that might have elevated the film within the genre, while character details are buried under the desire to go high gloss throughout. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with any of this, mind you, though it is a bit difficult to sit through the film without wondering what might have been, the “next level” hovering like a specter above.
Yes, “Iron Man” is a hell of a time at the movies. Yes, the suit is really, really cool. And yes, Downey Jr.’s performance might stay at the top of a lot of personal favorites lists throughout the season. It’s like a glove; the actor fires on all cylinders, more a machine of dramatic purpose and performing genius than an actor playing the part. For comic fanatics (to avoid the pejorative “geeks”), hair-raising joy is in many a minor crevice. Terrence Howard will afford the line of the year in some respects — a simple toss to a crowd in the know but smooth as butter and damn near an afterthought all the same. Very cool.
